JAMES O. GOODLIN, senior member of the firm of James O. Goodlin, Son & Company, lumber dealers, of which he is treasurer and manager, was born in a village in Ross Township, Jefferson County, Ohio, called Owltown, December 19, 1857. His parents were William and Jane (Gosson) Goodlin.

William Goodlin was a native of Maryland and a son of Thomas Goodlin, he and his father being tailors by trade. William Goodlin was an early settler near Richmond, Ohio. He married Jane Gosson and later they moved to Harrison County and both died at Cadiz Junction.

James O. Goodlin was reared in Ross Township. In 1881 he came to Toronto and learned the carpenter's trade in the old Myers McFenn planing-mill and then worked as a journeyman. In 1887 he organized a company which purchased the Saltsman planing-mill, which stood on the present site of the large Goodlin Company's planing-mill. The partners in this enterprise were J. L. Metcalf, James O. Goodlin and John W. Cooper, and they operated the concern until 1893 under the name of Metcalf, Cooper and Goodlin. In that year Mr. Goodlin sold his interst to his partners and entered into a new partnership, with Guy Johnson, in a contracting and building business. In 1895 Mr. Goodlin again sold out to his partner, and in 1896, when the firm of Metcalf & Cooper were unfortunate and forced to make an assignment, he bought their stock, and in 1898 one-half of the interest was purchased by Mr. Johnson. In the meanwhile the company bought the old Glass House property at Steubenville for a lumber yard, and Mr. Goodlin and hsi son, E. B. Goodlin, with Mr. Johnson and his two sons, William B. and James Johnson, ran the two concerns together until the death of James Johnson made a reorganization of the business mecessary. In the division Mr. Johnson took the Steubenville interests and Mr. Goodlin the Toronto interests. At that time the firm of James O. Goodlin, Son & Company came into existence. The officers are as follows: W. E. Maxwell, a resident of Toronto and a practical mechanic, is president and foreman of the planing-mill; Mr. Goodlin is treasurer and manager, while E. B. Goodlin is secretary. The business is thus in the hands of trained, experienced men and is in a very prosperous condition.

Mr. Goodlin married Miss Clara Parkinson, who was boen in Island Creek Township, and they have two sons--E.B., who is associated with his father; and Charles, who is in the employ of the company. Mr. Goodlin belongs to the Masons and Odd Fellows.